1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to laminar structures. More precisely, the invention disclosed herein relates to I.D. cards, I.D. credit cards and laminar assemblies useful in their preparation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
I.D. cards or badges and I.D. credit cards are known products of commerce and their performance characteristics are well defined. Essentially, such products must be capable of being conveniently handled, but be durable and resistant to wear, heat, cold, sunlight, ultraviolet light, moisture and other conditions. Additionally, they must provide identifying information which is readily available to one examining the card and which is sufficient to provide a reasonable degree of assurance that the person presenting the card is the legitimate holder thereof. Both I.D. cards and I.D. credit cards routinely include security features the most common of which is a security seal, e.g., a seal which cannot be easily broken without revealing evidence of the attempted intrusion.
Although not essential in the case of I.D. cards, I.D. credit cards also provide a capability for storing information other than that relating to the identity of the bearer. For example, I.D. credit cards, oftentimes, include information for recording transactions in which the card is used. Generally, such information is stored in one of the layers of the I.D. credit card is embossed form or in the form of a plurality of punched holes.
In addition to the above-described performance characteristics, the methods or processes for producing of assembling I.D. cards and/or I.D. credit cards should be simple, rapid and convenient involving a minimum of manipulative steps all of which can be accomplished in a relatively routine, day-to-day fashion without the requirement of specialized knowledge on the part of the assembler. Since the issuance of I.D. cards and I.D. credit cards requires the intended bearer of the card to come to a photographic station of the issuer, an ideal feature in producing and assembling the card involves the issuance of the card directly to the intended bearer at the station.
Many of the known methods for producing I.D. cards and/or I.D. credit cards involve the use of heat-activatable adhesive systems which are considered especially convenient since they can provide excellent security seals by simple, but rapid manipulations. The heat-activatable adhesive system can be coated directly on the information-bearing surface of the I.D. card before assembly, e.g., a pouch or similar assembly structure which will be described in more detail hereinafter. In any event, the I.D. card is inserted between the layers of a laminar assembly and the heat-activatable adhesive system is activated such as in a platen press, roll laminator or like device to provide an effective security seal for the final product.
The selection of a particular heat-activatable adhesive system is not without attendant problems and the suitability of such systems in this application must be determined empirically. For example, the heat-activatable system must be one which can be activated at a temperature which does not adversely affect the dimensional stability of the final product and/or components thereof. Also, the system must be one which will not adversely affect the color or definition of the information on the information-bearing surface of the I.D. card. The present invention is addressed to laminar assemblies and to I.D. cards and I.D. credit cards produced therefrom which manifest a uniformly high degree of quality in those performance characteristics required of such products by the art and which further permit rapid assembly of such products so that they can be made available almost immediately to the intended bearer.